Britt Mossink wins Dutch Neurofederation Thesis Prize 2022

Britt Mossink has won the Dutch Neurofederation Thesis Prize 2022 for his thesis The cell-type specific contribution of EHMT1 to neuronal network dysfunction in Kleefstra syndrome. She received the prize and gave a lecture on the most important findings described in her thesis, at the Dutch Neuroscience Meeting, in Tiel on Thursday, June 16th. 

The jury noted that in this thesis the approach to study human neurons using electrophysiological and molecular tools in a system preserving the connectivity was extremely powerful and uncovered various new aspects of the mutation with the underlying complexity of the disease.

After finishing her Bachelor in Life Science  program at the Fontys University of Applied Sciences in Eindhoven, Britt pursued a career in research by continuing her studies at Maastricht University, where she followed the Master’s program Biomedical Science. During her Master, In 2015 she decided to join the lab of Dr. Dirk Schubert and Dr. Nael Nadif Kasri at the department of Cognitive Neuroscience at the Donders institute for Medical Neuroscience in Nijmegen. Here she studied the contribution of four Kleefstra Syndrome spectrum genes to neuronal function using micro-electrode arrays. After a successful internship she decided to accept a PhD position to continue her work on Kleefstra Syndrome under supervision of Prof. Hans van Bokhoven, Dr. Nael Nadif Kasri and Dr. Dirk Schubert (2017). During her PhD, she used stem-cell models to study how mutations in EHMT1 affect the communication between different types of brain cell-types on micro-electrode arrays. Her work has led to multiple publications in high impact international journals.

The Dutch Neurofederation Thesis Prize is meant as an encouragement for new talented neuroscientists. The prize is presented annually during the Dutch Neuroscience Meeting (DNM).